Malaysia

Background
In 1998, the Malaysian government pledged to refrain from censorship of the Internet as part of a financial calculation to attract foreign investment. This pledge was statutorily enshrined in Section 3(3) of the Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998 (CMA), which regulates...

Every week, the OpenNet Initiative provides a weekly news roundup (dubbed "Threats to the Open Net") in addition to our usual in-depth blog posts. If you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed for our newsreel, our entire blog,...

Rather than censor the Internet outright, the Malaysian government has adopted a policy of close monitoring and occasional intimidation to keep bloggers and independent media websites in check. Over the past few years, Malaysian authorities have arrested or detained multiple...

Last week Malaysia's Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr. Rais Yatim announced that the country would consider implementing a nationwide Internet filtering plan similar to China's Green Dam. This week, the Prime Minister pulled an about face, claiming there...

New research from the OpenNet Initiative reveals accelerating restrictions on Internet content as Asian governments shift to next generation controls. These new techniques go beyond blocking access to websites and are more informal and fluid, implemented at edges of the network, and...

The arrest of blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act on September 12, just as his website Malaysia Today (http://mt.m2day.org/) was reported to be unblocked, provides an ominous reminder that there may be more effective ways of silencing...

The independent website Malaysiakini.com, reportedly the country’s most popular alternative news source, has announced that the political website Malaysia Today has been blocked by order of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). On its home page, Malaysia...